Mentors’ impact on majoring in STEM for students with or without a parent in a STEM field

Abstract

Growing up with a parent working in a STEM field and having a STEM mentor enhance the likelihood of completing a university STEM degree (Almarode et al., 2014; Subotnik, Tai, Almarode, & Crowe, 2013). The current study explores whether mentors serve an outsized role for retaining students who do not have a parent in STEM, and which categories of mentors (e.g., parents, teachers, or researchers) are most influential. Preliminary analyses of data from a National Science Foundation–sponsored survey of selective public science, mathematics, and technology high school graduates in the United States indicate that the impact of mentors on students’ later majoring in STEM is even greater for students who did not have a STEM parent, compared with students who did. The study relates to the conference theme by examining the influence of mentors for a specific group—students of science, mathematics, and technology high schools. As students attending such high schools often come from STEM-friendly home environments and show greater STEM interests and abilities than students attending non-specialized high schools, the finding indicates that providing more mentoring support can be especially important for bright and interested students without a parent employed in a STEM field. Identifying strategies used by mentors to replicate the attitudes, experiences, and values inculcated in homes with STEM professionals will also benefit students beyond those found in selective STEM high schools. The finding and its implications are relevant for policymakers, STEM educators, and mentors.

Full text

Mentors’ Impact on Majoring in STEM for Students
With or Without a Parent in a STEM Field
Linlin Luo1, Rena Subotnik2, and Heidrun Stoeger1
1University of Regensburg, Germany, 2American Psychological Association
Growing up with a parent working in a STEM field and
having a STEM mentor enhance the likelihood of
completing a university STEM degree
Students who had a parent in a STEM-related career
were 40% more likely to earn a STEM undergraduate
degree
Students who had a STEM mentor had higher STEM
achievement and were more likely to choose a STEM
career
But what about mentor’s influence in relation to the
presence or absence of a STEM parent?
Perspective 1 (additive effect): Mentor provides a
unique contribution independent of student having a
STEM parent or not
Perspective 2 (compensatory support): Mentor is
only beneficial for students without a STEM parent
Perspective 3 (accumulative advantage): Mentor is
more beneficial for students with STEM parents than
those without STEM parents
Research findings are mixed regarding the effect of
mentors in relation to other forms of social support
BACKGROUND
PURPOSE
Sample
A large dataset from a survey of selected public SMT (science,
mathematics, and technology) high school graduates in the US
Outcome variable
Whether students completed an undergraduate STEM degree (binary)
Research Question 1
Three predictor variables (binary) are drawn from the question: “Who was
responsible for your career choice?”
•parents
•mentors
•self
Analysis: Two separate logistic regression analyses for students with and
without a STEM-career parent
Research Question 2
Different categories of mentors are drawn from the question: “Who served
as students’ mentor in high school?”
Analysis: A chi-square analysis to compare whether students with and
without a STEM-career parent identified different categories of mentors
DISCUSSION
METHODS
Explore how the effect of mentors might differ for students
with and without a STEM-career parent
Research Question 1:
Are mentors more important for STEM retention for
students without STEM-career parents?
Research Question 2:
Who serves as mentor for students who reported having
had a mentor in high school and eventually completed an
undergraduate STEM degree?
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The impact of mentors on students’ later completing a
STEM major is greater for students without a STEM-
career parent than for students with a STEM-career
parent
The findings supported the compensatory perspective
of mentor support
Limitation
•a highly selected group
•simplistic survey answers (binary data)
STEM parent might:
•spark child’s initial
STEM interest
•nurture child’s STEM
interest through formal
(e.g., enroll students in
STEM programs) and
informal support (e.g.,
trips to museums)
STEM mentor might:
•validate mentee’s
STEM aspirations
•share STEM
knowledge
•serve as a role model
•provide opportunities
for mentee to explore
STEM
RESULTS
Research Question 1
Students with a STEM-career parent: the parent was responsible for helping
them choose a STEM major; the influence of mentor was not significant.
Students without a STEM-career parent: the parental influence was not
significant for their STEM-major choices, but their mentor and their own
career exploration influenced choosing a STEM major.
Research Question 2
With a STEM-
career
parent
Without a STEM
-
career
parent
Who’s responsible for
STEM major choices
Odds ratio
pvalue
Odds ratio
pvalue
Parent 1.5
< .001
0.9 .930
Mentor 1.2 .108 1.6 .001
Self 1.2 .114 1.4 .007
Who served as
mentors?
With a STEM-
career parent
Without a STEM-
career parent
Significance test
pvalue
Parent 48.8% 34.3% < .001
SMT teachers
53.4% 50.8% .262
Both 34.0% 25.1% < .001
CONCLUSION
Policymakers, STEM educators, and mentors may
consider to provide more mentoring support for those
bright and interested students in particular who lack a
STEM-career parent
Future research directions include identifying strategies
used by mentors to replicate attitudes, experiences, and
values inculcated in homes with STEM professionals
that can benefit students beyond those found in selective
SMT high schools
References